Tech – Page 3

Turbulent global economy could drive up prices for Netflix and rivals

netflix, streaming, tariffs, Tech, united kingdom / Kris Guyer / April 12, 2025

“… our members are going to be punished.”

A scene from BBC’s Doctor Who. Credit: BBC/Disney+

Debate around how much taxes US-based streaming services should pay internationally, among other factors, could result in people paying more for subscriptions to services like Netflix and Disney+.

On April 10, the United Kingdom’s Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee reignited calls for a streaming tax on subscription revenue acquired through UK residents. The recommendation came alongside the committee’s 120-page report [PDF] that makes numerous recommendations for how to support and grow Britain’s film and high-end television (HETV) industry.

For the US, the recommendation garnering the most attention is one calling for a 5 percent levy on UK subscriber revenue from streaming video on demand services, such as Netflix. That’s because if streaming services face higher taxes in the UK, costs could be passed onto consumers, resulting in more streaming price hikes. The CMS committee wants money from the levy to support HETV production in the UK and wrote in its report:

The industry should establish this fund on a voluntary basis; however, if it does not do so within 12 months, or if there is not full compliance, the Government should introduce a statutory levy.

Calls for a streaming tax in the UK come after 2024’s 25 percent decrease in spending for UK-produced high-end TV productions and 27 percent decline in productions overall, per the report. Companies like the BBC have said that they lack funds to keep making premium dramas.

In a statement, the CMS committee called for streamers, “such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, and Disney+, which benefit from the creativity of British producers, to put their money where their mouth is by committing to pay 5 percent of their UK subscriber revenue into a cultural fund to help finance drama with a specific interest to British audiences.” The committee’s report argues that public service broadcasters and independent movie producers are “at risk,” due to how the industry currently works. More investment into such programming would also benefit streaming companies by providing “a healthier supply of [public service broadcaster]-made shows that they can license for their platforms,” the report says.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said that it will respond to the CMS Committee’s report.

Streaming companies warn of higher prices

In response to the report, a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement shared by the BBC yesterday that the “UK is Netflix’s biggest production hub outside of North America—and we want it to stay that way.” Netflix reportedly claims to have spent billions of pounds in the UK via work with over 200 producers and 30,000 cast and crew members since 2020, per The Hollywood Reporter. In May 2024, Benjamin King, Netflix’s senior director of UK and Ireland public policy, told the CMS committee that the streaming service spends “about $1.5 billion” annually on UK-made content.

Netflix’s statement this week, responding to the CMS Committee’s levy, added:

… in an increasingly competitive global market, it’s key to create a business environment that incentivises rather than penalises investment, risk taking, and success. Levies diminish competitiveness and penalise audiences who ultimately bear the increased costs.

Adam Minns, executive director for the UK’s Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services (COBA), highlighted how a UK streaming tax could impact streaming providers’ content budgets.

“Especially in this economic climate, a levy risks impacting existing content budgets for UK shows, jobs, and growth, along with raising costs for businesses,” he said, per the BBC.

An anonymous source that The Hollywood Reporter described as “close to the matter” said that “Netflix members have already paid the BBC license fee. A levy would be a double tax on them and us. It’s unfair. This is a tariff on success. And our members are going to be punished.”

The anonymous source added: “Ministers have already rejected the idea of a streaming levy. The creation of a Cultural Fund raises more questions than it answers. It also begs the question: Why should audiences who choose to pay for a service be then compelled to subsidize another service for which they have already paid through the license fee. Furthermore, what determines the criteria for ‘Britishness,’ which organizations would qualify for funding … ?”

In May, Mitchel Simmons, Paramount’s VP of EMEA public policy and government affairs, also questioned the benefits of a UK streaming tax when speaking to the CMS committee.

“Where we have seen levies in other jurisdictions on services, we then see inflation in the market. Local broadcasters, particularly in places such as Italy, have found that the prices have gone up because there has been a forced increase in spend and others have suffered as a consequence,” he said at the time.

Tax threat looms largely on streaming companies

Interest in the UK putting a levy on streaming services follows other countries recently pushing similar fees onto streaming providers.

Music streaming providers, like Spotify, for example, pay a 1.2 percent tax on streaming revenue made in France. Spotify blamed the tax for a 1.2 percent price hike in the country issued in May. France’s streaming taxes are supposed to go toward the Centre National de la Musique.

Last year, Canada issued a 5 percent tax on Canadian streaming revenue that’s been halted as companies including Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, and Spotify battle it in court.

Lawrence Zhang, head of policy of the Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank, has estimated that a 5 percent streaming tax would result in the average Canadian family paying an extra CA$40 annually.

A streaming provider group called the Digital Media Association has argued that the Canadian tax “could lead to higher prices for Canadians and fewer content choices.”

“As a result, you may end up paying more for your favourite streaming services and have less control over what you can watch or listen to,” the Digital Media Association’s website says.

Streaming companies hold their breath

Uncertainty around US tariffs and their implications on the global economy have also resulted in streaming companies moving slower than expected regarding new entrants, technologies, mergers and acquisitions, and even business failures, Alan Wolk, co-founder and lead analyst at TVRev, pointed out today. “The rapid-fire nature of the executive orders coming from the White House” has a massive impact on the media industry, he said.

“Uncertainty means that deals don’t get considered, let alone completed,” Wolk mused, noting that the growing stability of the streaming industry overall also contributes to slowing market activity.

For consumers, higher prices for other goods and/or services could result in smaller budgets for spending on streaming subscriptions. Establishing and growing advertising businesses is already a priority for many US streaming providers. However, the realities of stingier customers who are less willing to buy multiple streaming subscriptions or opt for premium tiers or buy on-demand titles are poised to put more pressure on streaming firms’ advertising plans. Simultaneously, advertisers are facing pressures from tariffs, which could result in less money being allocated to streaming ads.

“With streaming platform operators increasingly turning to ad-supported tiers to bolster profitability—rather than just rolling out price increases—this strategy could be put at risk,” Matthew Bailey, senior principal analyst of advertising at Omdia, recently told Wired. He added:

Against this backdrop, I wouldn’t be surprised if we do see some price increases for some streaming services over the coming months.

Streaming service providers are likely to tighten their purse strings, too. As we’ve seen, this can result in price hikes and smaller or less daring content selection.

Streaming customers may soon be forced to reduce their subscriptions. The good news is that most streaming viewers are already accustomed to growing prices and have figured out which streaming services align with their needs around affordability, ease of use, content, and reliability. Customers may set higher standards, though, as streaming companies grapple with the industry and global changes.

Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She’s been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK.

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Chrome’s new dynamic bottom bar gives websites a little more room to breathe

Apps, chrome, Google, Tech / Paul Patrick / April 12, 2025

The Internet might look a bit different on Android soon. Last month, Google announced its intent to make Chrome for Android a more immersive experience by hiding the navigation bar background. The promised edge-to-edge update is now rolling out to devices on Chrome version 135, giving you a touch more screen real estate. However, some websites may also be a bit harder to use.

Moving from button to gesture navigation reduced the amount of screen real estate devoted to the system UI, which leaves more room for apps. Google’s move to a “dynamic bottom bar” in Chrome creates even more space for web content. When this feature shows up, the pages you visit will be able to draw all the way to the bottom of the screen instead of stopping at the navigation area, which Google calls the “chin.”

As you scroll down a page, Chrome hides the address bar. With the addition of the dynamic bottom bar, the chin also vanishes. The gesture handle itself remains visible, shifting between white and black based on what is immediately behind it to maintain visibility. Unfortunately, this feature will not work if you have chosen to stick with the classic three-button navigation option.

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Powerful programming: BBC-controlled electric meters are coming to an end

BBC, BBC Radio, bbc radio 4, long wave radio, radio signals, radio teleswitch service, Tech / Mike M. / April 12, 2025

Two rare tungsten-centered, hand-crafted cooled anode modulators (CAM) are needed to keep the signal going, and while the BBC bought up the global supply of them, they are running out. The service is seemingly on its last two valves and has been telling the public about Long Wave radio’s end for nearly 15 years. Trying to remanufacture the valves is hazardous, as any flaws could cause a catastrophic failure in the transmitters.

BBC Radio 4’s 198 kHz transmitting towers at Droitwich. Credit: Bob Nienhuis (Public domain)

Rebuilding the transmitter, or moving to different, higher frequencies, is not feasible for the very few homes that cannot get other kinds of lower-power radio, or internet versions, the BBC told The Guardian in 2011. What’s more, keeping Droitwich powered such that it can reach the whole of the UK, including Wales and lower Scotland, requires some 500 kilowatts of power, more than most other BBC transmission types.

As of January 2025, roughly 600,000 UK customers still use RTS meters to manage their power switching, after 300,000 were switched away in 2024. Utilities and the BBC have agreed that the service will stop working on June 30, 2025, and have pushed to upgrade RTS customers to smart meters.

In a combination of sad reality and rich irony, more than 4 million smart meters in the UK are not working properly. Some have delivered eye-popping charges to their customers, based on estimated bills instead of real readings, like Sir Grayson Perry‘s 39,000 pounds due on 15 simultaneous bills. But many have failed because the UK, like other countries, phased out the 2G and 3G networks older meters relied upon without coordinated transition efforts.

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OnePlus releases Watch 3 with inflated $500 price tag, won’t say why

OnePlus, smartwatches, Tech, wearables / Paul Patrick / April 11, 2025

The tariff fees are typically paid on a product’s declared value rather than the retail cost. So a $170 price bump could be close to what the company’s US arm will pay to import the Watch 3 in the midst of a trade war. Many technology firms have attempted to stockpile products in the US ahead of tariffs, but it’s possible OnePlus simply couldn’t do that because it had to fix its typo.

Losing its greatest advantage?

Like past OnePlus wearables, the Watch 3 is a chunky, high-power device with a stainless steel case. It sports a massive 1.5-inch OLED screen, the latest Snapdragon W5 wearable processor, 32GB of storage, and 2GB of RAM. It runs Google’s Wear OS for smart features, but it also has a dialed-back power-saving mode that runs separate RTOS software. This robust hardware adds to the manufacturing cost, which also means higher tariffs now. As it currently stands, the Watch 3 is just too expensive given the competition.

OnePlus has managed to piece together a growing ecosystem of devices, including phones, tablets, earbuds, and, yes, smartwatches. With a combination of competitive prices and high-end specs, it successfully established a foothold in the US market, something few Chinese OEMs have accomplished.

The implications go beyond wearables. OnePlus also swings for the fences with its phone hardware, using the best Arm chips and expensive, high-end OLED panels. OnePlus tends to price its phones lower than similar Samsung and Google hardware, so it doesn’t make as much on each phone. If the tariffs stick, that strategy could be unviable.

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Google takes advantage of federal cost-cutting with steep Workspace discount

Federal government, Google, Google Workspace, Policy, Tech / Mike M. / April 11, 2025

Google has long been on the lookout for ways to break Microsoft’s stranglehold on US government office software, and the current drive to cut costs may be it. Google and the federal government have announced an agreement that makes Google Workspace available to all agencies at a significant discount, trimming 71 percent from the service’s subscription price tag.

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, the government has engaged in a campaign of unbridled staffing reductions and program cancellations, all with the alleged aim of reducing federal spending. It would appear Google recognized this opportunity, negotiating with the General Services Administration (GSA) to offer Workspace at a lower price. Google claims the deal could yield up to $2 billion in savings.

Google has previously offered discounts for federal agencies interested in migrating to Workspace, but it saw little success displacing Microsoft. The Windows maker has enjoyed decades as an entrenched tech giant, leading the 365 productivity tools to proliferate throughout the government. While Google has gotten some agencies on board, Microsoft has traditionally won the lion’s share of contracts, including the $8 billion Defense Enterprise Office Solutions contract that pushed Microsoft 365 to all corners of the Pentagon beginning in 2020.

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Hands-on: Handwriting recognition app brings sticky notes into the 21st century

Reviews, Software, Tech / Tim Belzer / April 11, 2025

Rocketbook Reusable Sticky Notes are an excessive solution for too many sticky notes.

For quick reminders and can’t-miss memos, sticky notes are effective tools, and I’d argue that the simplicity of the sticky note is its best attribute. But the ease behind propping up sticky notes also means that it’s easy for people to find their desks covered in the things, making it difficult to glean critical information quickly.

Rocketbook, a Boston-based company that also makes reusable notebooks, thinks it has a solution for sticky note overload in the form of an app that interprets handwriting and organizes reusable sticky notes. But not everyone has the need—or time—for a dedicated sticky notes app.

Rocketbook’s Reusable Sticky Notes

Like Rocketbook’s flagship notebooks, its Reusable Sticky Notes rely on erasable pens that allow you to use the paper repeatedly. The Reusable Sticky Notes work with the Rocketbook app (available for iOS or Android), which transforms the sticky notes into images that are automatically stored in the app and can be emailed to specified people (as a PDF) or shared with third-party apps.

The $30 starter kit I used comes with weeks’, if not months’, worth of materials: That includes 15 3×3-inch reusable sticky notes, a case for said notes, a small microfiber towel for wiping the text off of the sticky notes, and a pen from Pilot’s FriXion line of erasable pens, markers, and highlighters. Rocketbook claims that any FriXion writing utensil will write and erase on its sticky notes. I only tried the pen included in the starter kit, a FriXion Ball gel pen with a 0.7 mm tip. Using the built-in eraser, I could usually remove enough ink from the notes so that only a faint imprint of what I wrote remained. For total clarity, I’d need to whip out the included microfiber cloth and some water. The notes seemed able to withstand water well and without getting flimsy.

The Pilot Frixion pen. — The gray tip on the right side of the open pen is the eraser. Credit: Scharon Harding

Rocketbook claims that the adhesive on its sticky notes is so strong that they can be stuck and re-stuck hundreds of times. I didn’t get to put that to the test but can confirm that the notes’ adhesive area is thicker than that of a normal sticky note. The paper is thicker and smoother than a normal sticky note, too, while still being lightweight and comfortable enough to write on.

A picture of the back of an unsued Reusable Sticky Note (left) and used one with the adhesive covering removed (right). — A picture of the back of an unused Reusable Sticky Note (left) and the back of a used one with the adhesive covering removed (right). Credit: Scharon Harding

Sticky note software

The Reusable Sticky Notes are among the most technologically advanced scraps of paper you can find. In my experience, the technology, including the optical character recognition, worked reliably.

For example, scanning a sticky note was seamless. The camera in the iOS app quickly identified any sticky notes in the shot and snapped an image (or images) without me having to do much aligning or pressing more buttons.

Afterward, it was easy to share the image. I could send it to frequently used emails I saved in the app or send it to other apps, like AirDrop, Google Drive, ToDoist, or a search engine. The app can read the sticky note images as text, but it doesn’t convert the images to text. So, while Google could interpret an image of a sticky note as text via Google Lens, for example, ToDoist only saw a JPEG.

The app uses optical character recognition to convert handwriting into machine-readable text. This enables you to use the app to search uploaded sticky notes for specific words or phrases. I initially feared that the app wouldn’t be able to read my cursive, but even when I scribbled quickly and deviated from writing in a straight line, the app understood my writing. Don’t expect it to pick up chicken scratch, though. My handwriting didn’t need to be perfect for the app to understand it, but the app couldn’t comprehend my sloppiest notes—the type that only I could read, or ones that are common when someone is quickly jotting something on a sticky note.

Further, I didn’t always notice which notes I wrote neatly enough for the app to read. That made it confusing when I searched for terms that I knew I wrote on scanned notes but that were scrawled, per the app, illegibly.

A screenshot of the Rocketbook app. Credit: Scharon Harding/Rocketbook

Perhaps most useful for sticky note aficionados is the app’s ability to quickly group sticky notes. Sure, you could put sticky notes with to-do list items on the left side of your computer monitor and place notes with appointments to remember on the right side of your monitor. However, the app offers superior organization by letting you add tags to each scanned note. Then, it’s easy to look at all notes with the same tag on one page. But because each scanned note shown on a tag page is shown as a thumbnail, you can’t read everything written on all notes with the same tag simultaneously. That’s a con for people who prefer seeing all relevant notes and their contents at once.

There are additional ways that the Rocketbook app can help bring order to workstations containing so many posted sticky notes that they look like evidence boards. Typically, I denote titles on sticky notes by trying to write the title larger than the rest of the text and then underlining it. In the Rocketbook app, you can manually add titles to each sticky note. Alternatively, if you physically write “##” before and after the title on the actual Sticky Note, the app will automatically read the words in between the pound signs as a title and name the image as such. This is a neat trick, but I also found it distracting to have four pound signs written on my notes.

Another Reusable Sticky Notes feature lets you turn scanned notes into to-do lists that are accessible via the companion app. If you write a list on a note using square boxes at the start of each line, the app will read it as a “Smart List.” Once scanned, the app converts this into a to-do list with boxes that you can check off as you complete tasks. This is easier than trying to check off items on a sticky note that’s, for example, dangling on your computer screen. But it’s not always possible to fit every to-do list item on one line. And numerous times, the app failed to read my Smart List properly, as you can see in the gallery below. This could be due to my handwriting being unclear or misaligned. But as someone merely trying to write down a to-do list quickly, I lack the time or patience for thorough troubleshooting.

Organizing your organizational tools

Sticky notes can help you stay on schedule, but it’s easy to accumulate so many that the memos become a distracting crutch rather than handy organizational tools. For people who live by sticky notes, Rocketbook’s solution is excellent for grouping related tasks, appointments, and reminders and preventing things from getting overlooked.

However, leveraging Reusable Sticky Notes to their maximum potential requires scanning notes into the app. This doesn’t take long, but it is an extra step that detracts from the instant gratification of writing something down on a note and slapping it somewhere visible. For people who just like to write it down and post it, the Rocketbook app can feel cumbersome and unnecessary. The problems I had using Smart Lists hindered the product’s helpfulness, simplicity, and productivity as well.

Rocketbook’s sticky notes are also more beneficial to people who are more likely to look at an app on their phone than a bunch of papers surrounding them. There’s also a distinct advantage to being able to read your notes via an app when you’re not near the physical pieces of paper. Going further, it would be beneficial if the app could further leverage the phones that it’s on by being able to set alarms, for example, to correspond with scanned notes.

Much like with their app-free counterparts, for me, the best part of Rocketbook’s Reusable Sticky notes lies within its simpler features. The ability to easily reuse notes is more helpful than the ability to catalogue and archive memos. And while the handwriting recognition was mostly impressive, it seems more advantageous in something like a reusable notebook than a sticky memo.

But if you find yourself drowning in crumpled, flailing pieces of sticky paper, Rocketbook offers an option for organizing your organizational tools.

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Google announces faster, more efficient Gemini AI model

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Google, Google Gemini, Tech / Tim Belzer / April 10, 2025

We recently spoke with Google’s Tulsee Doshi, who noted that the 2.5 Pro (Experimental) release was still prone to “overthinking” its responses to simple queries. However, the plan was to further improve dynamic thinking for the final release, and the team also hoped to give developers more control over the feature. That appears to be happening with Gemini 2.5 Flash, which includes “dynamic and controllable reasoning.”

The newest Gemini models will choose a “thinking budget” based on the complexity of the prompt. This helps reduce wait times and processing for 2.5 Flash. Developers even get granular control over the budget to lower costs and speed things along where appropriate. Gemini 2.5 models are also getting supervised tuning and context caching for Vertex AI in the coming weeks.

In addition to the arrival of Gemini 2.5 Flash, the larger Pro model has picked up a new gig. Google’s largest Gemini model is now powering its Deep Research tool, which was previously running Gemini 2.0 Pro. Deep Research lets you explore a topic in greater detail simply by entering a prompt. The agent then goes out into the Internet to collect data and synthesize a lengthy report.

Gemini vs. ChatGPT chart — Credit: Google

Google says that the move to Gemini 2.5 has boosted the accuracy and usefulness of Deep Research. The graphic above shows Google’s alleged advantage compared to OpenAI’s deep research tool. These stats are based on user evaluations (not synthetic benchmarks) and show a greater than 2-to-1 preference for Gemini 2.5 Pro reports.

Deep Research is available for limited use on non-paid accounts, but you won’t get the latest model. Deep Research with 2.5 Pro is currently limited to Gemini Advanced subscribers. However, we expect before long that all models in the Gemini app will move to the 2.5 branch. With dynamic reasoning and new TPUs, Google could begin lowering the sky-high costs that have thus far made generative AI unprofitable.

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Windows 11’s Copilot Vision wants to help you learn to use complicated apps

AI, copilot, copilot vision, microsoft, Tech, Windows 11 / Kris Guyer / April 10, 2025

Some elements of Microsoft’s Copilot assistant in Windows 11 have felt like a solution in search of a problem—and it hasn’t helped that Microsoft has frequently changed Copilot’s capabilities, turning it from a native Windows app into a web app and back again.

But I find myself intrigued by a new addition to Copilot Vision that Microsoft began rolling out this week to testers in its Windows Insider program. Copilot Vision launched late last year as a feature that could look at pages in the Microsoft Edge browser and answer questions based on those pages’ contents. The new Vision update extends that capability to any app window, allowing you to ask Copilot not just about the contents of a document but also about the user interface of the app itself.

Microsoft’s Copilot Vision update can see the contents of any app window you share with it. Credit: Microsoft

Provided the app works as intended—not a given for any software, but especially for AI features—Copilot Vision could replace “frantic Googling” as a way to learn how to use a new app or how to do something new or obscure in complex PC apps like Word, Excel, or Photoshop. I recently switched from Photoshop to Affinity Photo, for example, and I’m still finding myself tripped up by small differences in workflows and UI between the two apps. Copilot Vision could, in theory, ease that sort of transition.

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Japanese railway shelter replaced in less than 6 hours by 3D-printed model

3-D printed homes, 3-D printing, 3D printing, concrete, Japan, JR West, railways, Tech / Kris Guyer / April 9, 2025

Hatsushima is not a particularly busy station, relative to Japanese rail commuting as a whole. It serves a town (Arida) of about 25,000, known for mandarin oranges and scabbardfish, that is shrinking in population, like most of Japan. Its station sees between one to three trains per hour at its stop, helping about 530 riders find their way. Its wooden station was due for replacement, and the replacement could be smaller.

The replacement, it turned out, could also be a trial for industrial-scale 3D-printing of custom rail shelters. Serendix, a construction firm that previously 3D-printed 538-square-foot homes for about $38,000, built a shelter for Hatsushima in about seven days, as shown at The New York Times. The fabricated shelter was shipped in four parts by rail, then pieced together in a span that the site Futurism says is “just under three hours,” but which the Times, seemingly present at the scene, pegs at six. It was in place by the first train’s arrival at 5: 45 am.

Either number of hours is a marked decrease from the days or weeks you might expect for a new rail station to be constructed. In one overnight, teams assembled a shelter that is 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) tall and 10 square meters (32 square feet) in area. It’s not actually in use yet, as it needs ticket machines and finishing, but is expected to operate by July, according to the Japan Times.

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Framework “temporarily pausing” some laptop sales because of new tariffs

AMD, framework, framework laptop 13, intel, tariffs, Tech, trump tariffs / Rejus Almole / April 8, 2025

Framework, the designers and sellers of the modular and repairable Framework Laptop 13 and other products, announced today that it would be “temporarily pausing US sales” on some of its laptop configurations as a result of new tariffs put on Taiwanese imports by the Trump administration. The affected models will be removed from Framework’s online store for now, and there’s no word on when buyers can expect them to come back.

“We priced our laptops when tariffs on imports from Taiwan were 0 percent,” the company responded to a post asking why it was pausing sales. “At a 10 percent tariff, we would have to sell the lowest-end SKUs at a loss.”

“Other consumer goods makers have performed the same calculations and taken the same actions, though most have not been open about it,” Framework said. Nintendo also paused US preorders for its upcoming Switch 2 console last week after the tariffs were announced.

For right now, Framework’s sales pause affects at least two specific laptop configurations: the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and AMD Ryzen 5 7640U versions of the Framework Laptop 13. As of April 1, Framework was selling pre-built versions of those laptops for $999 and $899, respectively. Without those options, the cheapest versions of those laptops start at $1,399 and $1,499.

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FreeDOS 1.4 brings new fixes and features to modern and vintage DOS-based PCs

freedos, MS-DOS, retrocomputing, Tech / Tim Belzer / April 8, 2025

We’re used to updating Windows, macOS, and Linux systems at least once a month (and usually more), but people with ancient DOS-based PCs still get to join in the fun every once in a while. Over the weekend, the team that maintains FreeDOS officially released version 1.4 of the operating system, containing a list of fixes and updates that have been in the works since the last time a stable update was released in 2022.

FreeDOS creator and maintainer Jim Hall goes into more detail about the FreeDOS 1.4 changes here, and full release notes for the changes are here. The release has “a focus on stability” and includes an updated installer, new versions of common tools like fdisk, and format and the edlin text editor. The release also includes updated HTML Help files.

Hall talked with Ars about several of these changes when we interviewed him about FreeDOS in 2024. The team issued the first release candidate for FreeDOS 1.4 back in January.

As with older versions, the FreeDOS installer is available in multiple formats based on the kind of system you’re installing it on. For any “modern” PC (where “modern” covers anything that’s shipped since the turn of the millennium), ISO and USB installers are available for creating bootable CDs, DVDs, or USB drives. FreeDOS is also available for vintage systems as a completely separate “Floppy-Only Edition” that fits on 720KB, 1.44MB, or 1.2MB 5.25 and 3.5-inch floppy disks. This edition “contains a limited set of FreeDOS programs that are more useful on classic PC hardware” and, to conserve space, does not include any FreeDOS source code.

The standard install image includes all the files and utilities you need for a working FreeDOS install, and a separate “BonusCD” download is also available for those who want development tools, the OpenGEM graphical interface, and other tools.

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Google’s AI Mode search can now answer questions about images

AI, ai search, Artificial Intelligence, Google, Google Gemini, google search, Tech / Rejus Almole / April 8, 2025

Google started cramming AI features into search in 2024, but last month marked an escalation. With the release of AI Mode, Google previewed a future in which searching the web does not return a list of 10 blue links. Google says it’s getting positive feedback on AI Mode from users, so it’s forging ahead by adding multimodal functionality to its robotic results.

AI Mode relies on a custom version of the Gemini large language model (LLM) to produce results. Google confirms that this model now supports multimodal input, which means you can now show images to AI Mode when conducting a search.

As this change rolls out, the search bar in AI Mode will gain a new button that lets you snap a photo or upload an image. The updated Gemini model can interpret the content of images, but it gets a little help from Google Lens. Google notes that Lens can identify specific objects in the images you upload, passing that context along so AI Mode can make multiple sub-queries, known as a “fan-out technique.”

Google illustrates how this could work in the example below. The user shows AI Mode a few books, asking questions about similar titles. Lens identifies each individual title, allowing AI Mode to incorporate the specifics of the books into its response. This is key to the model’s ability to suggest similar books and make suggestions based on the user’s follow-up question.

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